


Dire Docks

by lee_godhyuck



Series: Lost at Sea [1]
Category: NCT
Genre: Light Angst, like theyre all sons of sailors here or smth sea related, murder mystery ?, sea monster ? idk man, uh their we young concept sorta inspired, why do i always make dreamies suffer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2019-04-23 10:49:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14330862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lee_godhyuck/pseuds/lee_godhyuck
Summary: when one becomes injured and the other goes missing... the remaining members of the group grow weary on how safe their small fishing town really is.





	Dire Docks

It wasn't exactly how they expected to spend their start of summer.

Not surrounded by fog and hovering over a dead and once missing body by the docks. Unfortunately to their dismay, it was a figure they recognized as the body belonged to one of their own; the corpse of Huang Renjun was at their feet now beached like a whale. 

Letting out a loud and haunting cry, Chenle had fallen to his knees at seeing such a sight. The other's could not offer comfort as they were all paralyzed, this summer was hell. At first the sudden disappearance of children and some adults had the town in spooks, though temporarily it had paused. Not for long, because as soon as the mysterious culprit returned, it sought out for their small group by attacking Jaemin. 

Said boy was not with them at the time of discovering Renjun's body, due to being forced to stay home by his worried sick mother. Jaemin's father was overseas on a trip along with his other same aged friend's fathers, which included Renjun's. Alas, Jaemin was now home with a healing injury that could have left him permanently paralyzed; he's lucky by mere seconds. The night Jaemin was attacked was unforgettable for the others. 

Mark had remembered the night vividly, he could not sleep because of it; the eldest felt as if he was the one to blame for the outcomes, for not protecting his friends dearly enough. The other's had constantly reminded Mark that he was one singular boy and could not be at 6 different places at once, that he was also spared of going missing.

About 2 weeks ago, at the start of June the boys were getting ready to say their goodbyes to their fathers or friend's fathers. Personally, Mark had not seen his father in almost 2 years, he was a marine biologist and could not be cooped up in such a small town, thus his departure. Mark occasionally received letters but it is not enough for him and his mother, the absent of the other person in their home was dreadful.

_Nonetheless that evening, the group had decided to hang around the local lagoon and regretted it quickly the next morning. It started off as peaceful, however on their way back home Donghyuck had inquired how he heard someone behind them, due to the fact some of their fellow classmates had disappeared without a trace, they all began running. They were so close to escaping the barely lit pathway, though not all of them were close. Jeno and Renjun halted their course and noticed a missing friend, Jaemin. At the alert of the missing boy they bravely retraced their steps to find Jaemin before whatever was chasing them could find him. The youngest, Jisung yelled out as he came across a crawling Jaemin, the frail body that pushed it's way up through the sand before resting his body against the cold texture in front of Jisung. Upon closer inspection of their friend, they noticed the ripped pieces of his jeans and the blood oozing out the large claw marks that traveled up his legs. Jeno was the first to question what had occurred to Jaemin, the boy in the sand only deeply breathed before explaining himself._

_"I don't know what it was... I was running and tripped over a rock. when I got up you all were far ahead, but as I started running..." Jaemin voice shook, "Whatever or whoever was chasing us grabbed my ankle again, I looked behind to see what it was and... this is going to sound crazy... but it wasn't human." The story telling boy paused his tale, the expressions on the others face were not good. "What do you mean not human? Jaemin that's insane, do you mean to tell me there's some god damned monster merman out there?!" Donghyuck whined out while he pointed towards the mouth of the sea. Jaemin only nodded, "Yeah, I know it sounds crazy but I know what I saw! Either way I struggled my way out of there and when I started throwing rocks at it, the lighthouse's light beamed onto it and scared it off. but thing is, when I was trying to escape it's hold I guess it pulled my ankle weirdly and Jesus does it hurt now!" Jaemin announced, there was the reasoning for his crawling situation. "My mom! Guy's we have to take him to my mom now!!" Renjun demanded, his mother was the local doctor. Mark and Jeno had supported Jaemin who then exposed more claw marks that attempted ripping through his shirt._

 

Right now, Mark stared at Renjun's body, fists trembling tremendously that eventually shook his whole body in anger. How was it fair to any of them? Why did they have to witness Jaemin wince in pain, have him isolated into his home for his own safety, why did they have to find their missing friend like this? Renjun who was once so bright looked dull. His lips were parted opened but no breath came out from his oral cavity, the seaweed tangled within him that matched his sickly pale green flesh; cold blooded murder. The same claw marks salvaged Renjun's corpse. His body and clothes were drenched, who knows how long he had been floating adrift while his friends scurried the entire town everyday and night for him without rest. They were pitied by their teachers who excused their frantic and sleeping selves in class, as they had spent such an accumulated amount of time in Chenle's room trying to map out, and pin point clues for Renjun. 

Jisung only crumbled the piece of paper that was in his hand, it was Renjun's missing poster. It was useless to them now, there was no need to search for someone who was already long gone from this life. Jeno and Donghyuck sobbed harshly, the tears slowly ran down their faces; two of their closest friends were either dead or injured, what were they to tell their fathers?! Chenle still kneel'd beside Renjun while sniffling and holding his painfully frozen hands. Who knows how long they would have stayed their just glancing onto their fallen friend. However, Mark had other plans and being the eldest he had to be the rock for his remaining friends, "We have to tell his mom. There's no point in just looking at him, we can't save him anymore. That  _thing_ got to him before we could. 

_About 1 week ago, Huang Renjun suddenly did not show up to school, not their homes, outings, anywhere. It wasn't until a couple days later had the posters gone up. Jisung had ran to them during their lunch hour with the piece of paper in hand and slammed it down on the table in front of them all. They froze, Jaemin was the first to get up and with the help of his crutches he made his way to the trash can to project his breakfast into it. That was the only action needed to summarize how they all simultaneously felt; sick to their stomachs. Jaemin's hurls became louder as the fact that Renjun was missing became accepted._

_The group had vouched to search for their friend no matter what. They had high hopes that they would find him alive, that maybe he got lost at sea when fooling around with the sailboats. That maybe he missed his father so much that he went out to follow him overseas. The first step of action was visiting a woman they all loved for healing them during sick days, Renjun's mother. Walking up to the bright yellow house, Chenle had knocked the door. Renjun's poor mother opened the door and she looked as if she was about to be consumed by every sickness she had ever cured or studied. Her elderly eyes only watered when she looked at the 6 boys, she knew why they were there and gladly let them into her home. She had them sit down while preparing small snacks and tea. Once she had sat down and looked at the photo of Renjun above the fireplace, did she start breaking down._

_"I don't know, one morning before school he told me how he was going to go by the docks. That he needed to be reminded of his father, I agreed because it was traditional thing he did when he misses him. Though, when he didn't come back by breakfast I worried a bit but assumed he went to find one of you to be with. Then evening came, I went out to start looking for him. I searched endlessly, then the thought that maybe he came home made me return to this empty place... I can't call it a home without my boy." She weeped silently, Donghyuck had gone to hold her hand as her head fell down to obscure her pained face. She choked while continuing her story, "I called the police, they sent a search team the next day but nothing. I'm guessing the posters are up if you're all here now." Without much movement, their eyes darted towards Jisung who held the paper as if his life depended on it._

_With small actions, they collected the articles on the previous disappearances; trying to find some sort of link._ _Mark looked at Jaemin and sighed, the eldest refused to believe it but it was the only direct and confirmed clue they had. "Maybe it's the merman. The one that Jaemin saw." Donghyuck only laughed, "You're joking right? No offence Jaemin, but I highly doubt a monster took all these people." Jeno had then cleared his throat, "It's possible though... All these people seem to go missing near the water or at night time where there's no light and like Jaemin mentioned before, the lighthouse's light scared it off. That's why it doesn't take people during daylight, it feeds off darkness. Just look at our map..." Jeno softly spoke while pointing at the map hung up on Chenle's wall. The map pinpointed where each person had gone missing, "It's clustered in this one area, near the deepest part of the sea. We should try there again, maybe there's something were missing." Jisung spoke up, Mark nodded and then suggested they returned to their own homes for a well deserved rest. They were so close to finding Renjun, yet so far away. Every time they thought they were right, they found nothing._

_"Um yeah, I don't think I can make it..." Jaemin awkwardly said while playing with his crutches, they looked at him, "My mom's being super paranoid about us doing this, she's kinda putting me on lock down... You know with my foot and all." He said while directing his line of sight to his cast. On the fabric were the signatures of all of them with stupid little drawings as a sign of their care, a sign for Jaemin to heal. "Hey, it's alright man. We'll update you, we wouldn't leave you out of the light!" Chenle reassured Jaemin with a smile._

"We have to tell Jaemin too, we promised." Jeno curtly said after his sobbing stopped. The group were beyond exhausted from their search, endless search. Ultimately, with their promises to Jaemin and Renjun's mother, half of the group had split up to tell the respected individuals. 

Jaemin had dropped his crutches and almost fell on to the floor had it not been for Jeno catching him, the rising feeling of throwing up rose in Jaemin's body. As his body was supported on Jeno's he could only cry and empty out his heart. There was limited happiness found in it once his sob fest was over, Chenle passed him his crutches. On the other hand, Renjun's mother was devastated to say the least, she was also angry. Mark, Jisung and Donghyuck could only watch the doctor cause herself injuries while she threw around the plates, glasses and anything in her way to the ground. Her hands were covered in blood from the shards cutting her open, though when she reached the fireplace she looked at the photo. Renjun's photo and brought it to her chest, she fell into her oh so empty living room. She hugged the picture deeply and did not rise from the position. The boys thought it was best to leave her be but at the same time were fearful she may fall into a heavy depressive state and opted to stay by her side, without a word. Their presence was enough to keep Renjun's mother sane. 

* * *

 

Though, when she looked at the 6 of them in front of her now, she could not be kept sane. Jeno, Donghyuck and Jaemin had reached out to her before she fell onto the sand. As she cried loudly again, the sight of Renjun's coffin being lowered was too much for anyone. Chenle and Jisung had started the respectable motive of throwing the seaweed wrapped flowers into in the hole. Mark had then begun covering the coffin with the mixture of sand and dirt, many of the townspeople had left. Thus by the end of it all, it was the 6 of them and Renjun's mother left, they who could only hear the wild tides of the sea moving behind them. They all thought to Renjun's father, what would he feel and say when he returned from his trip?

Once Renjun's body was buried 6 feet under, they returned to Renjun's home and created a shrine in his old room. There was Renjun's photo, surrounded with little notes that the others wrote in hopes it'd reached him in the afterlife. As a reminder of the 2 weeks, Jaemin had offered his crutches to be placed as an offering, he no longer needed them, "It'll support him in the afterlife, just like they helped me stand up." He explained, another object that was placed also belonged to Jaemin. His cast. 

The white fabric that carried their names, the last thing that Renjun had touched that they still had. It was sacred to them now but offered comfort. 

Another decision was then made by the group, they would visit Renjun's mother daily. Whether within themselves or families, they would not leave the poor woman to be alone. They were also able to constantly visit Renjun's ghost there. 

Then on a faithful evening, they went to revisit the haunting docks. They were looking at it, the thing that caused Jaemin's injury and Renjun's death as it jumped in and out of the sea. Oh dear, how Jaemin was not exaggerating, it was very much not human, with it's blue greenish scales, gills and fins, scary looking face. It wasn't said amongst them but they thought about it, how they were going to prove it to be real and stop it; the sea monster. 

**Author's Note:**

> hm i may do another story where its them more grown and they actually defeat the monster or not. wow i love cheesy ideas.


End file.
